


the universe has moved for us

by towokuwusatsuwu



Category: HiGH&LOW: the Story of S.W.O.R.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Introspection, Jealousy, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 10:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14913845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Jesse stands at the back of the building, coat off but draped over his shoulders to ward away the late autumn chill. He doesn’t look up when Pho comes to stand next to him, his eyes aimed off in the general direction of the S.W.O.R.D. region, eyes lidded with fatigue.“What are you doing all the way out here?” Pho asks him, leaning against the edge with him.“Just wanted a chance to think about things, y’know. Can’t think with the bass.” Jesse stamps his foot down on the rooftop meaningfully, and Pho nods in understanding. Ice keeps the music turned all the way up. “You come lookin’ for me? That’s sweet.”Pho rolls his eyes, then ruffles Jesse’s messy dark blond hair. “Shut up. If someone doesn’t keep an eye on you, God only knows what trouble you’ll get into.”“You my handler now? What, I’m like a pitbull and you yank on my leash?” Jesse grins at him, all teeth, dark eyes glittering in the night.“Pitbull. That’s taking quite a liberty, isn’t it?” Pho leans down just to prove a point, almost having to crouch to come to an actual eye level with Jesse. “You’re more like a chihuahua.”





	the universe has moved for us

When his muscles are sore from dancing and his ears are ringing from Bernie’s voice booming loud and echoey through the VIP area, Pho leaves the club behind to search for Jesse. Only an idiot would have missed the disappearance of the Prison Gang leader, the absence of his smirk and the soft leopard fur coat he wears around his slender frame. Pho might be uniquely gifted with being able to notice his absence, though, the two of them growing abnormally tight in a short amount of time. Pho has his ideals and Jesse is always looking for a reason to fight.

He would be able to spot Jesse no matter what dark, shadowy corner of the Funk Jungle he might be hiding in, so he leaves the main club behind to poke around the rest of it. The Mighty Warriors live here, so they have their own rooms tucked in the back where no one else would think to look for them. Security lets Pho through without a word. In another time, he might have felt a little guilty poking through private rooms that do not belong to him.

Pearl and 9 share a room, and Pho only gives it a quick glance before closing the door. Bernie’s room is a disaster and Pho shakes his head, unsurprised, before leaving it behind. Sarah’s room is impeccably clean, the sweet scent of her perfume hanging in the air, which proves Jesse would never enter this space because there has never been a perfume he likes the scent of. Ryu’s room, Pho bypasses entirely knowing all too well not to cross the threshold.

Ice’s room is also empty, which gives Pho pause before he closes the last door and scans the narrow hallway. The door is so dark that he almost misses it, but it blows open, the hinges creaking just enough to draw his attention. Right. He had forgotten the spiral staircase that leads up to the rooftop, a sure and easy way to escape the noise.

Jesse stands at the back of the building, coat off but draped over his shoulders to ward away the late autumn chill. He doesn’t look up when Pho comes to stand next to him, his eyes aimed off in the general direction of the S.W.O.R.D. region, eyes lidded with fatigue.

“What are you doing all the way out here?” Pho asks him, leaning against the edge with him.

“Just wanted a chance to think about things, y’know. Can’t think with the bass.” Jesse stamps his foot down on the rooftop meaningfully, and Pho nods in understanding. Ice keeps the music turned all the way up. “You come lookin’ for me? That’s sweet.”

Pho rolls his eyes, then ruffles Jesse’s messy dark blond hair. “Shut up. If someone doesn’t keep an eye on you, God only knows what trouble you’ll get into.”

“You my handler now? What, I’m like a pitbull and you yank on my leash?” Jesse grins at him, all teeth, dark eyes glittering in the night.

“Pitbull. That’s taking quite a liberty, isn’t it?” Pho leans down just to prove a point, almost having to crouch to come to an actual eye level with Jesse. “You’re more like a chihuahua.”

Jesse’s head darts forward, his teeth snapping on air a few centimeters away from Pho’s nose before he bursts into laughter, leaning forward to bump their foreheads together. If he was anyone else, Pho would hand him his ass for thinking he could pull something like this, but because it’s Jesse, he only kisses him on the nose and leans back. Jesse blinks up at him comically before shrugging off his jacket, letting it fall to the roof.

“Getting hot up here, isn’t it?” Jesse asks before turning to the edge again, propping his elbows on top of the bricks. “You come looking for me for a reason?”

Pho shakes his head, picking up the jacket and draping it over the edge next to Jesse’s elbow for when he wants it again. “Nah. Just noticed you’d wandered off and wanted to see where you’d gotten to. What are you thinking about in the first place?”

“Gonna sound corny but I’m glad to be home with the Warriors and Ice and all that shit. Missed these guys.” Jesse half-smiles, runs his hand over the stumble on his jaw. “Willing to admit that sounds stupid or corny or whatever, I just… Guess I missed Ice more than I thought I did, you know, we’d been buddies for years before I got arrested.”

Pho doesn’t say anything, only nods while Jesse speaks because he’s heard Jesse talk about the Mighty Warriors more times than he can count. Even though he knows better than to be jealous about it— Jesse never called Ice anything other than his best friend and talked about Ryu just as much— Pho can’t help the slight burn in the back of his throat, the bile. It does him no good to get riled up over stuff like this because he knows he can’t change the past and he can’t expect Jesse to drop everything and everyone now that they’re all out; he just gotta shut up and deal with it and stop being so damn insecure about everything.

So he bumps his shoulder against Jesse’s smaller one. “Glad you’re all together again, and glad you brought us all along for the ride. Brown especially loves it here.”

“That guy.” Jesse rolls his eyes, turns his head up to meet Pho’s gaze, dark eyes questioning him before he opens his mouth. “What about you? You like it here?”

“Yeah, it’s a nice club, good people.” He runs a hand over the top of his head, averting eye contact, pretending to be deeply interested in something off in the distance. “‘Sides, you know I’d follow you just about anywhere at this point.”

Jesse scoffs up at him, punches Pho in the arm enough to sting. “Don’t say corny shit like that, dude, you’re gonna embarrass me… But you mean it? Anywhere?”

“You go and bitch and now you’re asking me to fluff your ego even more?” Pho shakes his head, rubbing the sore spot on his arm while Jesse grins up at him, showing all his teeth in a perfect white smile. “Yeah, anywhere you go, if you want me there, I’m here. You got me for life.”

“Cool. Keep me warm, it’s cold.” Jesse wedges himself up against Pho’s side.

Pho scoffs. “You got your own coat, idiot.” But he still pulls back the folds of his so Jesse can curl up against him under the fur, and his arms do feel a little cold when Pho rubs up one, using the friction to warm up his skin, rubbing the goose bumps away.

Jesse ends up standing in front of him, Pho’s coat wrapped around his body, Jesse’s back pressed against Pho’s chest. It’s not a bad position, all things considered; Pho has to keep Jesse wrapped up in his arms to keep him warm and when Jesse tilts his head back to look up at him, there’s a small, content smile playing around the edges of his lips. Pho leans down the rest of the way to peck him on the lips but Jesse grabs the back of his neck, won’t let him go.

“I’m still cold,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against Pho’s with every word. “Keep me warm.”

“You’re plenty warm.” Pho can feel the heat of Jesse’s skin, flushed and warm, almost feverish from their combined body heat captured inside the fur of his coat. “If you’re this cold, then we oughta go back inside, don’t you think?”

Jesse pouts at him, and he shouldn’t have the face to work that look because he isn’t soft around the edges or even at all, one hundred percent hard muscle and bad bratty attitude, but Pho’s heart wobbles just the same. “You don’t wanna keep me warm? I thought you liked me but you don’t even wanna cuddle with me. That’s cold.”

It would be easy to argue the point with Jesse but he doesn’t bother, just lets Jesse pull him back down into another kiss. The angle has to strain his neck and hurt him but he doesn’t seem to mind, just pushes his tongue into Pho’s mouth, smirks against his lips and moans when Pho bites down on his lower lip. He only breaks the kiss long enough to turn around, grabbing Pho around the shoulders, crouching just a bit before jumping up so Pho can catch him under the thighs, hoist Jesse up around his waist.

He should drop him on the bricks. It might teach him a lesson.

“You’re so big and strong.” Jesse leans back, throws his forearm up in front of his forehead and pretends to swoon. “I bet you can bench three of me. What was the last weight you benched?”

“Shut up, Jesse.” Pho settles his hands under Jesse’s thighs, thinks about how few people have ever seen the muscles his fingers are digging into, the perfect shape Jesse keeps his body in. “You’re gonna make me strain my back carrying your princess ass around like this.”

Jesse wets his lips, a swipe of soft pink. “You do it because you love me.”

“Yeah, I love you, pretty boy. You always take advantage of that, too.” Pho scowls at him but Jesse only laughs, the high light sound barely audible over the bass thumping against the soles of his shoes. “For someone who’s so happy to be home, you up here on the roof instead of down there with your boys. You thinking about something else you ain’t saying?”

“You got me. I was really up here thinking about how I wanna kick that Sannoh boy’s ass sometime. Me, you, and Brown gonna go in on those assholes and teach ‘em what it really means to fight. Now, gimme another kiss.” Jesse puckers up his lips, closes his eyes.

Pho does want another chance to hand that baby-faced boy his ass, so this is a sentiment he can kiss to; Jesse moans when their mouths come together, sliding a hand up around the back of Pho’s head, having to stretch just a little even this high up on him. He tastes like whatever he’d been drinking before coming up here and cigarette smoke, probably smoked before Pho managed to find him. It’s all just an overlay for the taste of Jesse himself.

“We’re going inside and going to bed,” Pho tells him, ignoring the way Jesse pouts pitifully up at him. “Uh uh, it’s late and you need to get some sleep if you’re gonna kick anyone’s ass in the near future. And it ain’t good to stand up here in the cold anyway.”

Jesse rolls his eyes. “Fine, fine, I’ll go to bed with you but only if you carry me to bed like a real gentleman would. Oh, and don’t forget my coat.”

“I oughta dump your ass off of the roof for acting like this, I swear to God.” Pho hitches Jesse up a little higher so he can grab the coat, tossing it over his shoulder for good measure. “C’mon, pretty boy, let’s get you downstairs to bed now.”

The room Ice gave them to do with what they want is empty, the others no doubt down in the club still. Pho dumps Jesse on the bed and throws his coat on top of him, kicking off his shoes while Jesse laughs and wriggles out of his clothing. He doesn’t have the right to look so good doing something so simple, tossing his clothes on the floor as he goes, showing off more golden skin over defined muscle as he goes. Pho watches him over his shoulder, admiring the stretch of his body, the tattoos showing up dark on his skin.

And then Jesse looks at him with softened eyes and holds his hands out to him, and Pho feels like an idiot for being jealous in the first place.

“You go wandering around in the middle of the night and I  _ will _ toss you off the roof.” Pho lets Jesse pull him onto the bed, rolling his eyes when Jesse curls up against his side, nosing at the side of his neck. “You good, kitty cat?”

“Kitty cat,” Jesse muses. “That’s a new one. Thought I was a chihuahua.”

“You got all the bark of a chihuahua but you got the shitty attitude of a cat, too. Plus, the coat.” Pho loops an arm around Jesse’s shoulder, letting him curl up as close as he wants, running his fingers through Jesse’s hair. “Mine either way, though, far as I’m concerned.”

“Damn right I’m yours. Didn’t go through all that shit together in prison for nothing, did we?” Jesse’s voice vibrates against his throat, the stubble tickling Pho’s skin, the sensation just less than unpleasant. “Sleepy time, Pho. Can’t hold my eyes open anymore.”

“Told you it was bedtime,” Pho mutters.

Jesse yawns against his skin. “Shut up. Goodnight. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Pho tucks his chin on top of Jesse’s head, rubs a hand up and down his back.

Yeah, he is an idiot for being jealous.


End file.
